Emory Oxford Orientation Takeaways (in no particular order)

Orientation is almost over, registration starts tomorrow (and will be a mess), and classes start Wednesday, so here are 22 things I’ve already figured out based on my 80 hours of experience on campus.

1. If you were to look at my Google Fit data, you’d think I was a tourist somewhere with bad public transportation—not a new college student—because my step count is so high. Even though this campus is really small, I still pretty much get lost every time I have to go somewhere. I’ve taken 57,085 steps since Friday morning as of this post, so this is physically demanding (and I have no sense of direction whatsoever)!
2. Remember you’ll probably have two authentication steps to get to your dorm room: one to get into your building, and another to get into your dorm itself. Don’t lock yourself out by leaving one authentication factor in your room by mistake. (from experience, by the way)
3. We have groups led by Peer Assistance Leaders (PALs), and it just so happened that my PAL is the incoming student president of the Emory Oxford Catholic Center, so by the working of the Holy Spirit, the “random process” of assigning PALs to groups or vice versa put me exactly where I need to be in order to get as much information as possible about Mass and other activities. Finding out what time Mass would be (and getting that info thanks to him) as soon as I got on campus has been the best decision I’ve made so far.
4.   I’m local, so I should know better than to stay outside in the Metro Atlanta sun for hours. Some second years (including the PAL mentioned above) have said that oftentimes, they have to go into buildings with A/C every few minutes just to escape the heat. Somehow, my brain blocked out the signal that Covington’s climate is a little cooler that home, 90 minutes away and still in Metro Atlanta. 
5. Building a schedule is really hard because you have to work through conflicting times and locations for classes you either want to take or need in order to graduate.
6. Expect to be pranked by your upperclassmen. I cannot exclude the possibility that on the morning of your second day of campus, you will wake up to stale bagels hung on every door handle in your dorm for no apparent reason.
7.  Having one friend from high school on campus is statistically super rare at a campus of this size, but it happened, and that’s really helpful in making the transition easier. 
8. Starting the year with Mass on Saturday (and then every normal week with Sunday Mass followed by lunch) is going to make a chaotic schedule and a difficult transition much more manageable.
9. Try to learn the layout of your campus as quickly as possible—preferably by the end of orientation.
10. If you, like me, are “directionally challenged,” Google Maps will become your greatest asset. One of our themes this year is “You can do many things but not all things.” Evidently, I can’t go anywhere on campus after 8:30 if I don’t have my phone because I need Google Maps, and even so, in the dark, I’ll inevitably end up on the opposite side of campus.
11. Don’t be afraid to use posted signs and/or directories when Google Maps unfortunately fails, or, even with it, you’re seemingly irreparably lost.
12. Emory Oxford’s Fleming Hall is amazing.
13. So is our PAL group 27, and our PAL. These groups are great gateways to strong and lasting friendships!
14. I know nothing about our history, so if there’s ever a “Hey, you’re an Emory student and you should know our history/trivia, so we’ll be quizzing you” kind of thing, I’m going to fail—spectacularly. I thought the “Few” in “Few Circle,” one of the main roads here on campus, referred to William Few, who signed the Constitution for Georgia. This guy signed a document in 1787, while the actual “Few” was Ignatius Alphonso Few, a lawyer born the year the Constitution went into effect, in 1789, when the guy I thought the road was named after was 41 and in the Senate representing Georgia.
15. I already had a reputation before I got to campus: among Catholics (who would know who this is) as the guy who has met Archbishop Gregory many times based on my GroupMe profile picture, and, among non-Catholics, as the campus’ equestrian Instagram influencer.
16. As of Sunday morning, it still hasn’t actually sunk in that, yes, I am actually a college student.
17.  Now that I’m settling well into Oxford, the Atlanta campus feels so much bigger than it felt when I toured it before applying. I’m already having trouble learning the Oxford layout; what’s going to happen when I need to learn the Atlanta layout?
18. The longest straight path on the Oxford Quad (either of the diagonals) is exactly long enough to walk once one way while praying a decade of the Rosary.  
19. For those of you who aren’t local, be advised: metro Atlanta weather is extraordinarily unpredictable.
20. You will have an incredible support system.
21. Work will be required, but you will succeed.
22. The next four years will be amazing!